On Notre Dame

Notre Dame needs to get defensive when picking next coach

November 30, 2009|By Brian Hamilton

Jack Swarbrick considers himself a data guy, which explains the heap of statistics Notre Dame's athletic director hauled into a meeting with his football coach after the 2008 season. The festival of digits served as a manifesto for what Notre Dame needed to be in order to be Notre D ame again.

Things haven't added up as planned for the Irish, which is why Swarbrick likely will officially be in the market for a new football coach on Monday. The essential question is whether the name he unearths can match what the numbers dictate.

Choosing a direction doesn't require a search-firm Sherpa or a coaching GPS. It merely requires access to NCAA rankings and two open eyes to have seen Stanford rampage through Notre Dame's wilting defense in a 45-38 win Saturday. That embarrassment again spotlighted the area that separates the Irish from their Bowl Championship Series aspirations.

Notre Dame must play elite defense. A new coach should be a more dynamic leader with a track record of running winning college programs, for sure. But he must know best how to produce a defense that doesn't have the consistency of warm brie, because dominance in that department is the most unswerving trait of BCS title teams.

And it seems likely the fate of his predecessor will be sealed Monday. A source said Swarbrick has an afternoon meeting set with Irish players after meeting with Weis on Sunday. Irish Illustrated reported Weis will address the team as well. Swarbrick could not be reached for comment.

A players' meeting was always on the docket for the Monday after the season finale, with a school spokesman pointing out that's when banquet awards and bowl possibilities are discussed. This gathering, though, figures to put the punctuation on Weis' tenure after five years and a 35-27 record.

Then it's onto Swarbrick's search, with some heady numbers guiding the way. The top five teams in total defense have a combined record of 58-2. Four of them are undefeated. All will play in BCS games this year, two likely competing for the national title.

The four unbeatens -- Florida, Alabama, Texas and TCU -- also rank in the top 10 in scoring defense and rush defense. And the trend is no accident.

Since 2000, all but one winner of the BCS title game has ranked in the national top 10 in total defense. The aberration was USC during the 2005 season, with a 48th-ranked defense that just needed to show up to complement a No. 1-ranked offense averaging almost 600 yards per game.

But top 10 defenses on eight out of nine national champions should produce a thunderclap of recognition in Swarbrick's mind. That and the 496 yards Stanford amassed on Saturday.

It's why the furor about Oklahoma's Bob Stoops won't die until Swarbrick introduces someone not named Bob Stoops as the next Irish coach. Even in a 7-5 season, Stoops fielded a top 10 defense -- hence the hyperventilating over the thought of Swarbrick stormin' Norman. The cavalcade of reports have the Irish turning this around in anywhere from a month to a matter of days. But the "when" is certainly less important than the "who," along with just how that "who" does his business.

The numbers don't lie. Notre Dame must cast an imposing defensive presence if it has any hope of reaching its own expectations. The considerable challenge is balancing that equation with a name that can deliver.